


Landslides: Come home to me

by Totallynotawitch



Series: Landslides [8]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Iris being in pain but also being comforted, M/M, Romance, barry being a dad, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26130808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Totallynotawitch/pseuds/Totallynotawitch
Summary: Set post season finale, but it's an au because I added and changed some element of how they got to the events in the season six finale and what happens after. Iris is still in the mirror! Will Barry be able to save her on time? Who knows. You will if you read this fic.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Cisco Ramon, Barry Allen & Jesse "Quick" Wells & Wally West, Barry Allen & Lilly Stein, Barry Allen & Nora West-Allen, Barry Allen & Wally West, David Singh & Iris West, Jefferson "Jax" Jackson/Wally West, Jesse "Quick" Wells & Barry Allen, Jesse "Quick" Wells & Wally West
Series: Landslides [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1855087
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Iris’s surroundings looked like those kaleidoscopes that Wally used to make. Her brain felt like it was splitting into thousands of different pieces. Her body felt lightweight. 

The last thing she had been thinking of was the hospital that David was at. Vaguely, she could hear Kamilla calling her name. Suddenly everything hurt and everything felt like her stomach was trying to crawl up. Her vision went white and she passed out. 

~~~

David was absentmindedly looking at the different types of ibuprofen, trying to read it backwards to see if it was safe to digest. There was an expiration date, but he wasn’t aware of the date so he figured that he should be safe than sorry and put it back. He avoided the tv screen nearby or the register to save himself the headache, literally. Absentmindedly he wondered what was going on in the real world. He hopes his doppelganger hadn’t ruined anything for him. 

A loud scream filled the room. It sounded almost like Iris, but he thought it was absurd, he could’ve sworn she was still safe in the real world. A bright light shined in the corner of his eye. Singh turned around to see Iris curled on the floor in a fetal position unconscious. He quickly ran toward Iris and checked her pulse. It seemed fine, but she wasn’t waking up. 

Singh cursed his lack of medical knowledge. He gathered Iris in her arm and took her to one of the hospital beds. At first, he waited for a while for her to wake up. When she didn’t, he started looking throughout the hospital for a manual or something to tell him what to do. 

He figured it wouldn’t hurt to hook her up to an IV bag and a heart monitor. Despite the headache it brought, he let it play as he fell asleep on the hospital bed beside her. 

~~~

Singh thinks maybe he should dabble in politics. He’d like to think he had good ideas and has a good moral code. Politics has to make more sense than whatever Iris is trying to convince him of.

She woke up shocked, startling him awake, and started freaking out. Apparently the last place she had been was in one of the rooms of the old star lab building. She managed to control the tech in order to find him, Singh was touched when he heard this, and the next thing she knew she was here. 

“I think I can do it, Singh.” Iris persuaded him. She was pacing the hospital room as he watched her, sitting in an awful hospital chair. If he was the governor he would pay for better seats. 

“Iris you screamed in pain. Why are we trying this if it will bring you pain?” 

“Because this might be our only way home. If I can teleport in this world who knows what else I can do?” Iris said exasperated. Singh rubbed his hands across his face. This method still didn’t sit well with Singh. He wanted to go home, to his life, to his husband, but not in a way that could endanger Iris.

“Is there a better way to deal with this?” Singh pleaded with Iris.

She bit her lip in thought and placed her hands on her hips stopping her pacing for a second. “Eva never mentioned anything. She found a way to escape, but I’m not sure. There was-” Singh waited for her to continue but she seemed sad and lost in thought. 

“Iris?” Concern took over him. 

She took a deep breath and continued speaking. “Well a speedster could phase themselves through the mirror to get us, but there’s no way of telling any of the speedsters that, and I think something bad happened.”

“Bad?” 

“They’re not using their speed, I think something happened.” Iris blurted out. Singh stared at her blankly for a minute trying to process this information. He wondered how Central City was faring without its golden heroes. He wondered how the golden heroes were faring. 

~~~

“What if,” Cisco wrote something down on the board. “We try that.” He changed a few numbers in a series of equations on a whiteboard. Barry, Chester, Wally, Jax, Lilly, and Jesse all observed his changes and see if it made sense. The equations they were discussing were thought to help Iris and co. escape the dreaded mirror. 

One day, Barry remembered how speed helped him travel to another earth so he wondered if speed could help him find Iris, Kamilla, and Chief Singh. They brainstormed that Barry could try phasing, but before that, they had to get the artificial speed force working. 

Knowing that this would take more than them, they recruited a few people to help them. They had been going back and forth for ages. Occasionally, Cecile, or Joe, Linda, or Allegra would stop by. They tried to be comforting, but Barry was too distracted, Chester seemed to like their visits though. 

Nora pulled on his pant leg and he bent down the pick her up. Ever since this whole Iris switch, Barry’s kept his daughter close in fear that what happened to his wife could happen to her. “What’s up?” He whispered. 

Nora held his shirt in one of her tiny hands and leaned in close. “Daddy, Daddy I’m hungry. Is it time to go to Papa Joe’s house?” They (and McSnurtle) had been staying there since he didn’t feel comfortable keeping her in the loft. 

“Yeah Baby we can go home. Go clean up your toys.”

“But-”

“Nora.” He said in a stern voice. She made a face and sulked off to put away her toys. Barry sighed and went to tell his friends that he was going to head out. Lilly decided to head out too, it was nearing 6 and she had a kid at home. The rest wished the trio goodbye before getting back to work. 

Barry picked up Nora’s bag before picking her up and he walked out with Lilly. “We got this, you know. We’ll get her back.” She tried to reassure him. 

“For her,” Barry and Linda looked at Nora who was playing with his collar, “I hope so.”

“It was nice to see you, and you Nora. I hope next time will be under better circumstances.” Lilly told them. Nora gave her a weak wave and small smile. 

“Maybe Ronnie and she can play together soon. Bye Lilly.” 

“Soon. Bye Barry.” They gave each other a half hug before Barry headed to Joe’s house. 

~~~

Barry and Wally sat in Joe’s living room, watching Nora build lego statues with McSnurtle. They were sipping some soda while Jessie raided the kitchen. 

“She’s so big now.” Wally drawled out. 

Barry nodded. “You want kids soon?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t brought it up with Jax yet.”

“How are things with Jax and you?” 

“Pretty nice, coming up on our one year anniversary. It’s nice with him. I’m trying to think of something to do for our one-year anniversary.”

“Maybe think of something he might need? I don’t know, what does he like?”

“He likes horror movies, and action movies, like John Wick.” 

“Maybe there’s a horror movie nearby? What about dinner? Think about something you guys like to do together and then make it special.”

“Do what, what are we talking about?” Jessie asked. She had two bags of chips, some fruit, and candies. She tossed the fruit to Barry, the chips to Wally, and kept the candies for herself. 

“Wally needs ideas for his one year anniversary with Jax.”

“Have you already moved in together?” She asked. Wally shook his head. “Well maybe you can ask him to move in with you, but in a fun way.”

“He does like escape rooms,” Wally added.

Jesse’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Ooh, maybe you can do an escape room where like-” Jesse started.

“The last thing he would find is two keys, one to get out and one to an apartment! That’s incredible Jess thank you!” Wally finished for her. He gave her a big hug, mindful of the food, and his mind whirred with details in this plan.

“I’m glad that’s one problem solved.” Barry gave them a sad smile and turned to Jesse, who was on the other side of him. “What’s going on with you? Any updates?”

“Well, I got a job at Mercury Labs as a research chemist,” Jesse said excitedly. “And now I can afford my own place! no more crashing in Joe’s house. He really is an angel. I’m projecting to be outta here in a month if all goes well.” In this new multiverse, Jesse ended up as the daughter of Harrison and Tess Wells, and they met when Joe was investigating Harrison Wells. Jesse, who had been giving up for adoption after Eobard had killed her father, took this as a hell of a shook. She would later befriend Wally and become a full-time superhero. Since she didn’t have a stable source of rent, she bounced between places, once rooming with Linda, then Wally, then Joe’s before now being able to get her own place with her two degrees (instead of the five she had on earth-2).

Barry gave Jesse a big hug and a happy smile. “Jesse I’m so proud of you good job!” His voice took on a softer quality when he told her this next part. “I think your dad would be proud of you too.” Jesse looked at him a little sad, vulnerable, and nervous. He wrapped his arms tightly around her. When Wally saw he joined the speedster hug. 

“He would be so proud of you. Just like us.” Wally affirmed her. Jesse smiled happily at the two boys and wondered what she and her dad would’ve been doing now. 

Soon, it grew late, and Wally had to leave and Nora had to go to sleep. Jesse and Barry hugged him goodbye while Nora hugged his leg. Barry put away Nora’s toys and McSnurtle back in his tank as Jesse got Nora ready for bed. He tucked her in and told her a story before kissing her on the forehead. 

He watched her as she fell asleep, quiet for a minute. Jesse had just finished getting ready for bed herself, she stayed in Iris’s old room for the time being, and she stood in the doorway of Barry’s room. (It was his room when he was a kid too. Nora’s crib is in one corner, she could’ve had Wally’s old room, but Barry didn’t want her too far away. McSnurtle’s tank is on the other side of the room.)

“You know we’ll save her. We’re superheroes, with or without the powers. Nora will see her mom again.” Jesse stated firmly as if she said it with enough confidence she would believe it too.

“Hopefully.” Barry agreed. He didn’t want to count his chickens until they hatched, but he really truly wanted to believe that he hadn’t lost Iris forever.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's part 2 Baby! Is Iris out? (of the closet? ages ago but the mirror? well you'll have to read!)

David Singh would like it stated on record that he thinks this whole thing is stupid and unlawful. Iris convinced him to let her try to teleport them to Kamilla’s location. He was wary of the idea, the last time could’ve been a fluke. It wasn’t like she was a meta, but Iris was persuasive. 

"If we are doing this, we're taking things from the hospital." Singh went to go find a bag to put some stuff in.

"Isn't stealing wrong chief?" Iris asked him cheekily. Singh stared at her unimpressed. After putting together a medkit which was really just an IV bag and a shit ton of Ibuprofen, they held hands and Iris thought long and hard about Kamilla. Suddenly Singh started to feel weightless (and not in a good way) and like his brain was splitting in half.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Kamilla hugging the daylights out of Iris. He held his head in his hands trying to block out the pain. "Looks like your a master of the mirror, Iris." Singh joked.

Iris gave him a grim smile. "Let's hope that works in our favor." They spent the rest of the time testing all of their abilities. Almost half the storage of ibuprofen was gone by the time they realized three things: 1) Iris had the best control of the mirror out of all of them 2) Iris can control the mirror to show them what they want to see 3) they need more ibuprofen

~~~~

Barry stared at himself in the mirror as he got dressed that morning. It was one of the few times he did. Naively he hopes to see Iris, but he knows it's unlikely. As he was about to leave the room he felt a strange urge to turn around. In the mirror, Iris, Singh, and Kamilla were pounding on the mirror. Their voices were a little disjointed, but he could vaguely make out what they were saying.

“Iris, Iris!” His wife was crying. They kept yelling at him what he thought: Use your speed to phase through the mirror. Save us. Barry looked heartbroken at them. Slowly he mouthed Speedforce. is. gone. Iris looked at him confused. He grabbed a knife and made a tiny cut on his hand. Iris watched as it didn’t heal with its usual swiftness. Despair took over her features. He pressed his hand to the mirror and tried desperately to console them. It didn’t work. She clutched her head in pain, and the image reflected in the mirror returned back to normal. He wanted to cry, sob, a dark part of him wanted to break the mirror (break Eva). Instead, he just slid to the floor and tried to organize his thoughts and reminisced on that one time he punched Carver for not telling him where his real wife is and trying to kill his father in law.

Nora knocked quietly on the door. She was out of her pajamas, in fresh clothes, ready for the day. “Daddy?” She quietly asked. Barry wiped his tears away quickly and put on a smile for his daughter. 

“Come in baby.” Nora rushed into his waiting arms. She put her head over his heart and held onto his shirt tightly. 

“I miss mommy. When is she coming home, daddy?” 

Barry didn’t answer for a minute. Nora's big brown eyes, so much like her mother’s, stared up at him. He stroked her back as he answered. “Soon baby. I hope she’s home soon.” The answer seemed to satisfy Nora, so he got them breakfast before dropping her off with Linda. Barry headed to work and texted the nerd group chat everything he found out today. It exploded with information and a new hypothesis. At least they now knew that the perpetual motion machine wasn’t needed, as long as they got the artificial speedforce working. 

It took two weeks. Two weeks exactly, Barry counted. Nora managed to lose a tooth during that time which wasn’t fun at all. Jax, Lilly, Chester, Cisco, Gypsy, Linda, Allegra, Joe, and Cecile gathered around the artificial speedforce. (Nora was with Diggle. If anything went wrong, he wanted her safe. Diggle wished them good luck.) Barry, Wally, and Jessie stood in front of a full-length mirror in their suits. 

“Ok remember the plan, Barry finds Iris, Wally finds Singh, and Jessie finds Kamilla. Iris told Barry that they would wait for them in the cortex of star labs. Stay focused.” Cisco reminded them. He stood by the switch, ready to flip it when it was time. 

The three speedsters nodded. Cisco flipped the switch and the entire room felt slightly off. Chester’s coffee started floating causing him to babble in excitement. Barry felt his hand start to vibrate. Wally’s hands produced the lightning which he quickly shaped into a flower. Jessie could feel the lightning start to coarse through her. Simultaneously they vibrated themselves so quickly they phased through the mirror. 

Everything was backward like they were reflected. The three speedsters gave each other a nod before sprinting off to find their assigned person. Barry found Iris in the cortex clutching her head in pain as she tried to read the screen. Time seemed to stand still. He looked her over entirely, he tiredness of her face and the pain behind her eyes. She was still his though. In an instant, he was wrapped entirely around her. 

Iris gasps at first then she starts crying. “Barry, Barry Barry. You came.”

“I came,” he says into her neck kissing away the tears on her face. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner.” Being back in her arms, something felt right again. He never wanted to let go. 

“No, it’s okay. You’re here now, baby. Take me home.” Barry picked her up bridal style and they left the mirrorverse permanently. Wally and Jessie were already out with Singh and Kamilla. Iris left Barry’s arms but stayed by his side. 

All the scientists swarmed them asking questions, giving hugs. Before happiness could settle in the room, Iris saw an electronic device and screamed.


	3. Epilogue

Barry remembers something he told Iris in his wedding vows. “Change has marked my entire life.” He never knew how true that would be. Currently he was sitting in an uncomfortable chair waiting for Iris’s test results and Iris herself to come back. They realized that Iris, Kamilla and Singh might not be entirely the same after living in another dimension for so long so they decided to run tests. Joe went to tell Rob of what happened while Wally, Cynthia, and Linda waited with him. 

“This reminds me of when we were kids and we’d stay up waiting for Joe to come home from the station. I would camp out in Iris’s bed and she’d tell me ridiculous stories to keep me sane.” Wally reminisced. Barry chuckled at the memory. He remembered doing that for a few years with Wally too. Iris always told the better stories. Now instead of Wally, they told Nora silly stories to chase away her fears. Funny how time works. 

“She was always good like that,” Barry remarked. Absentmindedly he fiddled with his wedding ring. 

Cynthia cleared her throat and looked sad instead of her usual indifference. “I hate to bring this up now, but we have to decide what to do about Eva. We still need to clear Sue’s name and beat Eva. I started on some plans, but I wanted to hear your thoughts about the matter.” In this new earth, Cynthia is an FBI agent, who met them because the FBI found them suspicious. They don’t anymore, hopefully. 

“Didn’t Cisco mention that Ralph took Sue into hiding?” Linda wondered.

“Yup, but I can’t imagine they could live like that for the rest of their lives.”

“Are your plans on paper or electronic?” Barry asked.

“Electronic,” Cynthia answered. 

“Email the plans. I’ll look over them tonight. Plan for a team meeting in a few days?” 

“Yes sir.” Linda saluted him. Barry gave her a weak smile in return. 

There’s an old poem Iris read in a book, The Outsiders, “Nothing gold can stay”

Nature’s first green is gold,  
Her hardest hue to hold.  
Her early leaf’s a flower;  
But only so an hour.  
Then leaf subsides to leaf.  
So Eden sank to grief,  
So dawn goes down today.  
Nothing gold can stay.

Barry thinks Robert knew a thing or two. They realize that the mirror world was changing Iris’s perception of the world down to the neuron so Cisco developed a pill to help fix her mind. After much debate, Barry signed them up for therapy with Mrs. Finkel, the therapist they went to a few years ago. She helped them a lot, and agreed to keep their other lives private. Cynthia didn’t even need to threaten her. 

After Team Flash ran all the necessary tests on Iris, the first person she wanted to see was her daughter. Happy that he had his powers again, he gathered Iris in his arms and flashed them to the Diggle household.

Diggle gave her a big hug when he saw them. “I’m glad you’re back,” Diggle told her.

“I am too,” Iris said happily.

“Who’s there Johnny?” Lyla called out. She walked into the living room looking for the new voices. “Iris!” Lyla went to hug her and Barry. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Thanks, Lyla. It’s nice to see you again.”

“It’s nice to see you too. Follow me, I’ll take you to Nora.” Iris squeezed Barry’s hand and went to follow Lyla. She quietly pushed the door open, and Iris saw Nora speeding around with the twins, Sara and JJ. She quietly watched her daughter for a second before alerting her of her presence. Nora quickly turned her head then barreled towards her mom. Iris almost fell over at the force of her daughter. She kneeled down and embraced Nora in a tight hug.

Nora cried into her chest. “I missed-missed you so much mamma. Everybody’s been so much sadder now, and I didn’t have my powers for a while.”

Iris rubbed her daughter’s back as she tried to calm her down. “Shh, baby. shh. I’m not going anywhere. Everything’s alright.”

Nora stared at Iris, eyes that looked so much like Francine’s, and said, “Ok, mamma, I believe you.” 

They managed to take down Eva using surprisingly the legal system. (After she was in jail though Iris punched her in the face.) Cisco managed to find the security tapes criminalizing Eva and clearing Sue’s name. It was harder to convict her of kidnapping, but Cisco found one of the day Iris got kidnapped. In court, Cecile proved that it was Eva who kidnapped her by showing how she’s a meta and could do that and proving that the Iris that came out wasn’t Iris but a clone. 

Eva was sentenced to thirty years in prison for kidnapping and first-degree murder. Team Flash and friends threw a big party in celebration. Happy days weren’t without sorrow though. Sue and Ralph announced after the party that they were going to move to Opal City. Everyone was sad, but Ralph and Sue promised to keep in touch. 

Iris and Kamilla wrote a very cathartic tell-all about their kidnapping. It boosted sales and brought them critical acclaim. People were on the edge of their seat reading mainly the terrifying tale. After that, they were able to make more connections in the industry and interview more famous people. 

Singh decided to retire from the police force after escaping the mirror. He decided to take politics seriously and studied law. Six years later, Central City welcomed its first gay mayor, David Singh. Iris and Kamilla watched proudly as he got sworn in. Rob watched happily as his husband soared through life. Everything that happened was mind-boggling, but he was just glad that his husband was safe. 

Speaking of Kamilla, she didn’t get a new job, but she used her job at CC Citizen to help the lives of those suffering. Her photographs brought worldwide acclaim and much-needed attention to those suffering. She would later be the head of the video/photography team of CC Citizen. 

Over time life grew into a new normal. For a few weeks, Iris worked from home to spend more time with her daughter. Therapy really helped Iris’s mental health. After a long process, the nightmares managed to subside and mirrors stopped giving her panic attacks. No amount of therapy ever got her re-used to her old house, though. Iris could still see the bloodstains on the carpet from when Eva seriously wounded Barry, and she could feel Mirror Iris’s presence like a stain she couldn’t get rid of. 

To solve this problem, her and Barry decided to sell their apartment, and move to a house by the suburbs. It was spacious with absolutely no mirrors. Barry and Wally even managed to build a secret room in the house for the superhero things. The yard was big enough that Cisco and Chester made a playhouse for Nora. 

Life changes, but sometimes not all change is bad. Especially when a year after moving into a house, Iris realized she was pregnant with not one kid, two kids. “We’re going to need more diapers,” Barry joked. Iris stared at him for a second, excited that he finally said the line he said years ago.


End file.
